Marine Corps psychiatrists closely monitoring a bloodied Camp
Pendleton unit that has had 24 men killed and more than 145 wounded
say the troops are not exhibiting an inordinate amount of mental
distress.

The roughly 1,000 troops from the 3rd Battalion, 5th MarineRegiment have been engaged in some of the heaviest fighting of the10-year-old war in Afghanistan, waging a brutal struggle with theanti-government Taliban insurgency in the Helmand province's Sangindistrict.

"We've spent a lot of time looking at them and trying to
understand how they're doing, what their operational stress level
is," said Cmdr. Charles Benson, the chief psychiatrist for the I
Marine Expeditionary Force. "We really haven't seen an inordinate
amount of mental health issues coming out of 3/5. Comparing them to
other battalions ... the rate of mental health referrals and combat
stress issues have pretty much been identical."

Benson directs the Combat Stress Center at Camp Leatherneck, the
largest Marine Corps base in Helmand.

Benson and the head of the Concussion Restoration Care Center at
Camp Leatherneck, Cmdr. Keith Stuessi, spoke with reporters during
a teleconference from Afghanistan this week on the mental and
physical well-being of the more than 20,000 Marines in
Afghanistan.

Benson said one of his psychiatrists visits the troops in the
Sangin area often, including tours of each the unit's forward
operating bases.

"And the chaplains are also up there as well," he said. "I've
got two medical officers and an independent duty corpsman ... who
are really kind of looking at this situation very carefully. We're
just not seeing what one might expect from a unit as heavily
engaged in combat as they are in terms of a combat stress
reaction."

His psychiatrists continually talk with the troops to see how
they're holding up, Benson said.

The troops are fighting the insurgency for control of a drug
trafficking and roadside bomb manufacturing center, a fight that
Camp Pendleton's Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, who is leading the
Marines in Afghanistan, has described as a "last stand" for the
Taliban in Helmand.

When the unit arrived in late September and took over from the
British, they were warned to expect a vicious fight.

In the ensuing weeks, the Marines have been in more than 400
firefights, according to Marine Corps officials.

The concussion center that Stuessi runs is the first of its kind
for the military to be established in a war zone and is intended to
treat troops suffering roadside bomb-related head traumas that
don't require evacuation to advanced care centers.

"Our estimate is that we're probably seeing between 20 and 30
percent of the concussions here in theater," Stuessi said. "The
good news to pass along is that our feeling is that if you're given
time, if you're given mental rest, if you talk about what to
expect, these concussion folks do very, very well."

About 320 troops with mild to moderate traumatic brain injuries
from blasts have been treated at the center at Camp Leatherneck
over the last five months, he said. Typical care includes
medication, acupuncture, exercise and counseling. Most of the
injured troops, Stuessi said, return to their unit within a few
weeks.

"We feel that what we're doing is working," he said.

When more than 10,000 Camp Pendleton troops deployed to
Afghanistan last year, teams of mental health specialists were
assigned to an Operation Stress Control and Readiness program, or
OSCAR.

Their goal is to identify troops suffering from combat stress or
the precursors of post-traumatic stress disorder and treat the
Marines as soon as possible. Those identified as having problems
are referred to medical professionals at Camp Leatherneck for
counseling and related services.

"What they do is actually live with the troops, train with the
troops and get out in the field with them," Benson said. "It kind
of breaks down the barriers and allows them to become very
effective in their jobs delivering mental health care."

That outreach and the concussion center, Benson said, are
proving valuable.

"This is really the crucible for the program to see how this is
working out," he said. "We think it's doing very well."

The programs are also helping dispel the notion of a stigma
being attached to a Marine who reaches out for help, he said.

"Part of the job ... is to decrease the stigma of coming forward
to mental health (providers)," Benson said. "Part of our main
message is that when you're in combat, when you're deployed, things
are going to come up. It's best if you talk about them, seek out
help, and realize that not every time you go see the mental health
provider do you end up taken away from your unit or labeled.

"It really is about letting the folks know that they have a
place to go, that they will be accepted and understood."